


Scheming Spirits

by theoriginalicecreamqueen



Series: Coldflash Week 2017B [4]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Coldflash Week 2017, Explicit Language, Ghost Barry, M/M, Medium Len
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 01:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12265845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoriginalicecreamqueen/pseuds/theoriginalicecreamqueen
Summary: Leonard Start, often referred to by his codename Captain Cold, was well known for two things. Being Central City's most talented thief and being a cold-hearted bastard. No one would ever guess that Captain Cold was a secretly a medium, and he liked things that way. His "gift" was a pain, best left alone.If he hadn't started squatting in the apartment of a murder victim with doe eyes and blinding smile, Len may have actually be able to ignore his gifts too.





	Scheming Spirits

“Lenny....”

 

A familiar, cheery voice sang out. Not for the first time, Len wished it’s owner was still alive. It’d be nice if Len could’ve been the one to kill him.

 

“Lenny… I know you can hear me. We need to talk,” the voice tried again, shifting position so it was speaking directly into his ear. It was only thanks to his months of practice that he managed to avoiding swatting at it. As much as Len was tempted, it wouldn’t do him any good.

 

“Please?”

 

Len sighed as he rubbed his nose. Fuck, he was supposed to be one of the toughest sons of bitches in Central City. He was Captain Cold, the hardass thief with a heart of ice. Course, that all went out the window when his resident ghost got that hint of heartbreak in his voice. His “gift” was a pain in the ass.

 

“What is it, Barry?

 

“Lenny! I need your help with something,” Barry announced. As he spoke, he allowed his image to shift into view. Barry’s coy grin and boyish dimples would have been cute if he wasn’t sitting - floating? - directly on top of the blueprints Len was trying to work on.

 

Len growled warningly, tipping his head to signal that Barry needed to move. The ghost didn’t budge. Being dead was way too effective at getting rid of a person’s fear. It was incredibly annoying. Len wished he could hit him or something. Anything to keep Barry from smiling at him like that would work. Len hated the way his stomach fluttered every time the ghost did. 

 

“Fine then, be grouchy. I know you’re curious,” Barry sing-songed, reaching for Len’s hand in a mock-embrace. As always, Len couldn’t actually feel Barry’s hand other than the slightly cool feeling in the air. Len couldn’t easily moved away, but it felt wrong. Moving through Barry always did. The little sad pout that appeared - without fail - whenever he did chipped at his stone heart every time.

 

“What do you need, Barry?”

 

Len’s teeth were gritted, and his voice was harsher than the situation called for. He needed to do something to keep his distance though. It didn’t work, of course, It never did with Barry. He was too sweet to hold anything against him, and Barry’s loneliness made him feel for the ghost too much for Len to ever truly try to get rid of him. It brought back too many unpleasant memories of Len’s childhood.

 

Barry’s blinding smile was almost worth it. Poor kid thrived on human interaction, and he got stuck as a ghost that no one but a medium could communicate with. Which somehow translated to Len getting stuck with Barry when he started squatting in the apartment Barry was murdered in. He wasn’t sure which one’s bad luck was worse.

 

“I was just thinking of a way I can talk to Joe. Let him know who killed me. You could…”

 

“No,” Len snapped, moving away from Barry and his plans.

 

He didn’t want to see the disappointed look he knew was going show up. They’d had the argument enough that Len could picture it perfectly anyways. Barry would be looking at the ground, leg twitching as though he was scuffing his shoe, and his eyes would have a shine like he was crying. He couldn’t, not anymore, but the fact didn’t bring Len any comfort. He hated telling Barry no for what felt like the millionth time, but Len couldn’t help, and every single one of these little plans hinged on him.

 

Barry wasn’t being completely unreasonable. It made sense that he’d want to catch the man that killed him, and, according to Barry, killed his parents too when he was a child. He swore that Harrison Wells, founder of STAR Labs and one of the richest men in the world, was obsessed with him. Wells had snapped he was denied access to Barry. First when Barry was a child and Wells wanted to study him, and again when Barry denied his romantic advances as an adult.

 

What was left of Len’s heart really went out to the kid, but there was nothing he could do. He’d offered to kill Wells for Barry, but Barry wanted well-known mogul arrested and shamed, not dead. The ghost wanted the world to know who’d killed him so everyone would stop assuming that his dad had killed Barry’s mom before committing suicide.

 

Len would have been all for helping, so long as Barry could finally think of a plan that didn’t involve him going up to Barry’s cop foster-father, and telling Detective Joe West that he spoke to his dead son’s ghost. Despite what Barry’s thought, that was sure to get him a one-way ticket to the morgue long before he could prove he actually had to spoken to Barry.

 

Still, Len really did wish he could help the kid. It made Len feel that much worse when the ghost popped back into his line of sight the minute he’d collapsed on sofa. “C’mon Lenny. This is a good plan. A new plan, I promise. At least hear me out before you say no this time?”

 

He should say no even to this. It’d hurt the kid less if he’d finally learn that Len could do nothing for him. All his scheming was pointless. He was fully prepared to, but when he met Barry’s gaze and trembling lower lip Len could physically feel his annoyance deflate. A ghost shouldn’t be able to look that vulnerable, but somehow Barry managed.

 

“Fine. You can talk,” Len started, quickly raising his hand to make Barry stop when his mouth flew open. He was always amazed with how Barry could smile like that, even when his mouth was stuck open. “You can talk  _ if _ you promise me now that this plan doesn’t hinge on me explaining to Joe West than I’m the Oda Mae Brown to your Sam Wheat.”

 

Barry laughed. It was a loud sound, clear in a way that always made Len so surprised no one else could hear him. Len shouldn’t be the only one that could hear such a beautiful sound. “I promise. Did you really just compare yourself to Whoopie Goldberg though?”

 

“If the shoe fits…” Len shrugged. “Besides you got a better one?”

 

“How about you’re the Cole Sear to my Dr. Crowe?”

 

“That one doesn’t work. You’re the kid here, not me. And that better not be the start of your argument,” lectured Len, rolling his eyes and scooting to the side of the couch in invitation. Barry, as he’d expected, smiled brightly at him as he plopped on the couch. The sofa didn’t jerk like someone actually set down, but it always made Barry giggle to himself so Len had learned to encourage it anyways.

 

“Don’t worry, my plan is a lot better than that,” Barry beamed. “I was thinking… if you can’t actually talk to Joe, then maybe I can.”

 

Len raised his eyebrow at ghost. If he could, he would’ve swatted him. Barry knew Joe couldn’t actually see or hear him, so what was he talking about? Had having no one but Len for company finally driven him to insanity? Len wouldn’t blame him if he had. Even Lisa and Mick needed breaks from him sometimes, but the poor ghost didn’t have the option.

 

“That’s your entire problem though. You can’t talk to West,” Len reminded him. He hated to bring that pitiful little pout back, but Len figured it was better in the long run if he didn’t let Barry continue with his delusions.

 

Luckily for Len, Barry didn’t lose his thousand-watt smile, and so Len didn’t have to pretend he wasn’t hating himself for crushing his personal Casper.

 

“I can’t  _ talk _ to him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hear from me!” Barry told him, his voice rising with excitement with each word. Len winced at the volume, but Barry was too busy shaking with anticipation to notice. 

 

“You do forgeries and stuff right,” Barry started back. He barely waited for Len’s reluctant nod before he continued. “So you can write like a diary or something talking about Wells being creepy as fuck with me before I died, and that I figured out what he did to my parents. I can give him enough to find something concrete!”

 

Len was full of trepidation, but he couldn’t deny the this plan, for the first time ever, may actually work. He was sure he could actually get the writing and information right, with Barry’s help. Breaking into the West house and sticking it in with Barry’s old stuff would be child’s play. Maybe he could even steal some of the kid’s stuff for him.

 

And it would have the added bonus of giving the detective a reason to go through Barry’s things faster.

 

“Oh, I know that look! You’re trying to find some reason it won’t work, and you’re coming up empty. Admit it, you like my plan.”

 

Barry was obviously ecstatic, leaning in like his head was resting on Len’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around him in a mock embrace. As usual, Len pretended that Barry’s false sense of closeness didn’t bring a warmth inside him that rivaled his cold touch.

 

“Could you slow down, Barry. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s not a done deal yet either. This is going to take a lot of planning,” Len urged. He was going to do this, and they both knew it already, so his words didn’t have the intended effect.

 

“Well isn’t that why I have you, Lenny? Best planner in all of Central City. We’ve got this.” Barry leaned in slowly as he spoke, not stopping until it was as though his lips were touching Len’s. For the first time, Barry’s presence against him felt warm, and Len could feel himself smiling despite his best efforts. 

 

“If you get me killed, I’m going to haunt you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think either here or on my Tumblr, theoriginalicecreamqueen.


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